Welcome to another Wacked Out Wednesday down in The Dungeon!
Tonight's feature is the first episode of the 1970 TV show called "UFO," created by, directed and produced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson! Sylvia is also responsible for the Century 21 Fashions! It would be easier to just list all the things they didn't do!
Tricky title for the first episode!
I'm starting to see a pattern!
It's 10 years in the future, 1980, and this is the headquarters of S.H.A.D.O., some 400 feet below an unsuspecting movie studio!
Translucent Mondrian Eye Candy Corridors!
This dude goes tooling by in this little cart just so you can see how cool the future is going to be!
Hey! That's not 1980, that's more like a 1963 Avanti!
The Moonbase!
Looks like the Cosmo version of "Star Trek!"
Back to back scenes, one gal get dressed, and one gets undressed!
That's how the Andersons work it!
So really? What more do you want from life?
This looks like a good time to tell you that the music for "UFO" was created by the Anderson go-to-guy, the phenomenal Barry Gray! Barry created the music for I think every Anderson production including "Supercar," "Fireball XL5," "Stingray," "Thunderbirds," etc.
Here's the theme from "UFO," enjoy!
"So, Mel, how do you like my new screensaver?"
Aaaah! Sensuous!
Who knew that in the past we would have been so advanced! Looking back 36 years looks just the opposite!
What looks like a cell phone and some gal taking a selfie is actually just a sophisticated makeup case!
These guys keep calling U F O's youfos, like mofos! Sounds weird!
Some of the Anderson designs are very odd!
The alien flying saucer goes down for the count!
Future vending machines! Right on!
They were expecting a lot of short people in the future I guess! I can imagine sitting in one of those little egg chairs and not being able to get back out!
You can find an astounding amount of the Anderson's work on the Internet Archive for free! Just do a little search for Gerry or Sylvia Anderson and find out for yourself, or you can just click here!
You can thank Lord Litter for the link!
You can thank Lord Litter for the link!
When I was twelve, I thought it was cool. If I'd stopped to think about it, I might have questioned some of the stuff. Like, S.H.A.D.O. was supposed to be a super-secret organization, but its tracked vehicles were marked with the agency's name on them. And the interceptors apparently each carried only one missile. Never mind the purple wigs. That's just a Sylvia Anderson thing. They probably thought it looked futuristic and science fictional. Besides, I didn't notice it back then; I thought they were just brunettes, because I watched it in B&W. Our family didn't get a color TV until a few years later.
ReplyDeleteI was a fan of Gerry Anderson's marionette shows (Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, and Captain Scarlet) in the sixties, when I was a preteen. (None of our local TV stations carried Thunderbirds at the time, although I did see it when it was rerun on Fox or WB in the 1990's.) I've heard that Anderson was always embarrassed by his association with kids' shows. Maybe that's why UFO got so grim and dark at times. That is, Anderson was consciously trying to appeal to adults. For that matter, IIRC, even Captain Scarlet was darker and more violent than the previous puppet shows.
Thanx TC! In 1970, I was in the Army in Alaska, so I never saw this TV show during it's heyday! That's one of the thing's that's fun about doing this; different people's historical perspectives!
ReplyDeleteI LOVED UFO and still do. Straker was a tough, no nonsense boss and I would have killed to look like Lt. Gay Ellis (the one in the solver skirt).
ReplyDeleteI've got several screen shots at my flikr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/retrohound/albums/72157632135136511
ReplyDeleteNo Kidding TC, that's damn near the whole show!
ReplyDelete